Red Sox Journal: Farrell sticking with struggling youngsters

John Farrell said he plans to stick with Bogaerts, Bradley and Middlebrooks, to give them opportunities with the understanding that he has confidence in them.

Brian MacPherson Journal Sports Writer brianmacp

MINNEAPOLIS — With youngsters Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Will Middlebrooks all slugging under .350 six weeks into the season, some Red Sox fans — understandably — have grown restless with the lack of production. A Red Sox team that hasn’t scored runs consistently this season could use more production at the plate than it has gotten from all three of those players.

Manager John Farrell said he plans to stick with Bogaerts, Bradley and Middlebrooks, to give them opportunities with the understanding that he has confidence in them.

“These are our guys,” Farrell said. “We fully acknowledge and accept that there was going to be some peaks and valleys with guys along the way. But we still go back to the abilities that each possess and their work ethic. Those are going to be ingredients that are going to allow a guy to perform with some dependability.”

Across the way at Target Field, the Minnesota Twins provide a cautionary tale of what happens when a team gives up too early on a talented young player — an even more recent cautionary tale than David Ortiz.

When the Twins traded away ace lefty Johan Santana shortly before the 2008 season, the centerpiece of the package they got back from the Minnesota Twins was an athletic young center fielder named Carlos Gomez. One of the top prospects in the game at that point, Gomez was 22 years old and quite raw. He struck out 142 times and posted a .296 on-base percentage in his first season in Minnesota. He struck out 72 times in fewer than 350 plate appearances the year after that, hitting .229 with a .287 on-base percentage.

The following winter, after Gomez had finished his second season in Minnesota, the Twins needed a shortstop — and with Denard Span among four quality outfielders the Twins already had, Gomez seemed expendable. He was sent to the Milwaukee Brewers in trade for J.J. Hardy.

It wasn’t as though Gomez blossomed as soon as he got to Milwaukee, either. In his first two seasons with the Brewers, seeing limited playing time, he got on base at a sub-.300 clip. He’d played more than 500 games in the major leagues, and his OPS was under .700. He looked like a bust.

But he still was just 25 at that point — only a year older than Bradley is now. In his age-26 season, he hit 19 home runs and slugged .463, his first sign of life. A year after that, he slugged .503 and finished among the top 10 in National League MVP voting. In the early going this season, Gomez again has been one of the best players in the National League.

Meanwhile, a year after they traded Gomez for Hardy, the Twins traded Hardy to Baltimore for two pitchers who amounted to nothing. All of the outfielders who rendered Gomez expendable also have departed — though Jason Kubel returned on a minor-league deal before this season.

Giving up too early on a player too early — as the Twins did with Gomez five years ago and Ortiz 10 years ago — is not a mistake the Red Sox want to make with Bogaerts or Bradley.

“These are our guys,” Farrell said, making the same point a second time. “That’s what I’ll continue to stress. They need to feel the support and confidence from us as a staff, me included, to help them get through their times when things might not be clicking as well as they or we would like. That’s where giving them opportunity allows them to work through it.”

The squeaky wheel

Had Yu Darvish finished off his no-hitter, Ortiz said he wouldn’t have complained about his pop-up that was ruled an error on Friday night in Texas. Because Darvish lost the no-hitter in the ninth inning, however, Ortiz wanted his hit.

Ortiz got his hit on Wednesday. Major League Baseball overturned the official scorer’s decision to award an error to Texas outfielder Alex Rios and instead awarded a hit to Ortiz for a pop-up that fell between Rios and Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor. The official scorer had pointed to a rule on the books that instructed him to assign an error on a fly ball to the outfield that could have been caught with ordinary effort.

“I thought it was a hit in the moment,” Farrell said. “Upon further review, obviously, they changed it. I think, in the end, the right call has been made.”

The pop-up was a defensive play that should have been made, but official scorers almost never assign an error if it is not — as was the case when a similar pop-up dropped between St. Louis pitcher Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina in Game One of the 2013 World Series at Fenway Park. Though the scorer’s decision had been within the letter of the law, many believed that the play had been ruled an error only because Darvish was in the seventh inning of a no-hitter.

It happens

Farrell didn’t have much blame to direct at Andrew Miller even after the lefty served up a walk-off home run to Chris Parmelee in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday night.

Once an erratic starter who couldn’t get his delivery under control, Miller had not allowed a run (earned or inherited) in 13 of his previous 14 appearances before that home run to Parmelee. He hadn’t allowed a home run in a span of 26 appearances. He’d struck out 21 hitters since his last walk. What Miller has done in his last season’s worth of appearances matters more to Farrell than the one Parmelee at-bat on Tuesday.

“It’s going to happen against a good fastball hitter on occasion,” Farrell said after the game. “What Andrew has evolved into for us in high-leverage situations, men on base — he comes in and gets a key strikeout. He looked to be on his way towards that again, but it didn’t work out.”

“I felt like I’ve been throwing the ball pretty well,” Miller said. “He hit a fastball, and I felt that was the best fastball I had. I was pretty locked in out there with my heater.”

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.